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IDEA 2008

The speakers pushed the boundaries of what it means to design complex information spaces of all kinds. We can all expand our practice by absorbing their experiences and ideas. In cooperation with the “IA Institute”:http://www.iainstitute.org/, we’re happy to bring you recordings of most conference talks. We hope you enjoy listening to nearly the entire conference via these recordings.

This conference addressed issues of design for an always-on, always-connected world. Where “cyberspace” is a meaningless term because the online and offline worlds cannot be made distinct. Where physical spaces are so complex that detailed wayfinding is necessary to navigate them. Where work processes have become so involved, and so digitized, that we need new processes to manage those processes. — from the “IDEA Vision Statement”:http://ideaconference.org/index.html

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Micro-Interactions in a 2.0 World – David Armano
We live in a world where the little things really do matter. Each encounter no matter how brief is a micro-interaction that makes a deposit or withdrawal from our rational and emotional subconscious. The sum of these interactions and encounters adds up to how we feel about a particular product, brand, or service. Little things. Feelings. They influence our everyday behaviors more than we realize.

Vice-President of Interaction Design at Critical Mass, David Armano shares what organizations are doing this and how we’ll all need to re-think how brands are built and sustained in an ever-changing 2.0 world.

CmapTools: From Meaningful Learning to a Network of Knowledge Builders – Alberto Cañas
Based on theories of meaningful learning and education, Co-Founder and Associate Director at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), Alberto Canas presents a software tool that allows users to collaborate in the construction of shared knowledge models based on concept maps, which are used worldwide by users of all disciplines and ages, from elementary school students to NASA scientists.

Linguistic User Interfaces – Chris Crawford
Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of digging through nested menus buried inside subpanes of dialogs, we could just talk to our computers in plain language? Sure it would, but computer scientists have long since proven that such “natural language processing” can’t be done.

Storyton Author and Inventor Chris Crawford describes a Linguistic User Interface, outlining how it’s impossible to create a LUI seperately from the digtial reality it reflects: the language and reality must be built up in a parallel process.

Chris illustrates this with Deikto, the LUI system he created for his interactive storytelling technology.

The Language of Interaction – Bill DeRouchey
We are interacting with technology in an exploding number of forms. “Traditional” computers, cell phones, pocket PDAs, game systems, gesture-based input, store kiosks and checkouts, and much more. How do people learn new technology? By subconsciously learning the language of interaction and applying that language when learning something new.

Bill DeRouchey, Sr. Interaction Designer at Ziba Design surveys everyday objects out there now to spot patterns and trends in what people are learning from devices and products.

Getting Real – Jason Fried
Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary. 37signals’ products include Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire, Ta-da List, and Writeboard.

37signals also developed and open-sourced the Ruby on Rails programming framework. 37signals’ products do less than the competition — intentionally. Jason believes there’s real value and beauty in the basics. Elegance, respect for people’s desire to simply get stuff done, and honest ease of use are the hallmarks of 37signals products.

Aurora: Envisioning the Future of the Web – Jesse James Garrett
Co-founder and President of Adaptive Path Jesse James Garrett provides an inside look at the process of creating Aurora, a concept video depicting one possible future user experience for the Web.

Jesse talks about the technology trends that will shape the future Web, outlines the challenges of designing a future product, and takes the audience for a behind the scenes look at the creation of the Aurora concept video.

Emerging trends | Design thinking | Service innovation – Aradhana Goel
When we look through the lenses of society (how we connect), mobility (how to move) and sustainability (how we consume), we realize that the world has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. Aradhana Goel, the Service Design Strategist at IDEO, discusses connections between these emerging trends, design thinking, and service innovation.Download Aradhana’s presentation

Books and Browsers – Dave Gray
The book as a form factor has been around for about 2,000 years, since Julius Caesar first decided to fold up a scroll, accordion-style, and mark the pages for later reference. In 1455, Aldus Manutius was the first to publish the portable paperback, and it has remained relatively unchanged since.

In an interactive format, XPLANE Founder and Chairman Dave Gray explores several questions about the future of the book and the web browser.

You are (Mostly) Here: Digital Space and the Context Problem – Andrew Hinton
Context. It’s everywhere. No, really, you can’t move without bumping into the stuff. But it used to be that we at least had a grasp of what context we were in at any given time. We were either here, or there. But technology has radically changed what it means to be “here” or “there,” and has brought some challenging design problems along with it.

Andrew Hinton, Lead Information Architect at Vanguard, discusses What does architecture even mean, when the walls are made of vapor? How do we map places that don’t behave like places anymore? And if you don’t know whether you’re here or there, then how do you know which version of yourself to be?Download Andrew’s presentation

Digital Context Clues – Jason Kunesh
Experience design is evolving in both discipline and practice as more people communicate and engage with media. In this presentation Independent Design Professional Jason Kunesh examines working with patterns, diagramming and prototyping tools, code frameworks like Rails and Drupal and usability testing 8 year olds.

Jason also looks at the lessons learned and where he draws the boundaries between a firm’s design principles and the tenets of a particular.

He covers several projects in this presentation including Eruv, a symbolic boundary erected around Jewish neighborhoods as part of the observation of the Sabbath completed in Lower Manhattan and New York city.

Elliott also talks about the research into the life of his great-grandfather, which led to his concept for Cemetery 2.0, an electronic device that connects gravestones to online genealogical databases.

Elliot also shares his most recent work, Graffiti for Butterflies, a technique for using ultraviolet light and street art to direct Monarch butterflies to food sources in urban areas.

Mixing Messages – Edwina von Gal
The design of a park around a museum of biodiversity in Panama (designed by Frank Gehry) has inspired a number of collaborations and connections throughout Panama and, now the United States. The Park will be a living extension of the museum’s exhibits and the first step in an educational trail that will encourage visitors to explore Panama’s rich natural resources.

In this presentation, author and landscape designer, Edwina von Gal, discusses how this project has inspired her to become involved in other educational and applied projects in Panama, working with scientists, students, and local populations to explore sustainable alternatives in agriculture, architecture, and tourism.

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Jeff Parks

Jeff Parks parlayed his work in behavioural and cognitive psychology into one of today’s most recognized names in UX as a result of his trailblazing podcast on Boxes and Arrows. He is an international keynote speaker, a frequent guest lecturer, a business coach and mentor, and a tireless advocate of the patient-experience to quality healthcare. Jeff was a senior advisor in developing Central Europe’s largest UX conference, now run by Deloitte Digital and, through his former training company, Follow The UX Leader, he has inspired a new generation of UX professionals from Boeing to Zappos. View all posts by Jeff Parks

One thought on “IDEA 2008”

The range of speakers was impressive. All of the sessions were worthwhile, with speakers ranging from good to great – or extremly motivating like the one from Jason – I was almost also keen to ask ” You got a job for me?”. During the pre-conference, we worked together in teams, which was a good way to start to get to know the other attendees.
Describing a professional conference is a lot like the well-knon tale of the blind men and the elephant. Which had also been mentioned also during the conference :-). So – for me – it was inspiring, bracing and motivating – or just awesome.
Many people do work in isolation, and that is exactly why this conference was unique and so important to me.
This community was perhaps the friendliest I have experienced at any conference. And never the less – thx a lot to all sponsors as well as the great catering 🙂 !